


The restlessness of a sleeping dragon

by Voidshark



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dragons, Dragons with silly names, F/F, Ginny studying dragons with Charlie in Romania, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, after the war
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-06-28 10:32:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19810462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voidshark/pseuds/Voidshark
Summary: A story in which Ginny seeks an escape, dragons have ridiculous names, Charlie keeps interesting company and Luna eventually shows up.





	1. Leaving the nest

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing fanfiction in many years, this is un-betad and mostly just me getting back into the swing of things. Hope you enjoy my silly little story!

A year had passed since that war. Things were starting to slowly get rebuilt, houses, relationships, people. Everyone felt as though the scars might be too deep, it might never go back to the way it was. And those people were right, things did not revert back to their previous state, because difficult times reshape those affected. Even though life changed, some were still determined to not let it be a change for the worse. 

Ginny Weasley was nothing if not goal oriented and striving forward. It was the summer before what would be her 7th year at hogwarts. She had been thoroughly shaken, exhausted and nearly broken from the strain of the previous year. As much as everyone supported her she felt weighted by the expectations of the people around her. So she decided to take a break from everything, leaving the cautious looks and too careful words at home. It was Ron that gave her the idea when inquiring about Charlie at dinner one night, making a remark on how long it would be before their mother would force him home to visit them again. The same night Ginny had sent a letter to her older brother, asking if there was any way she could come to him in Romania.

This was how, less than a month later, Ginny found herself on her way to Romania to go help raise dragons. Or whatever it was that her brother does, the details were not the part most important to her. What was important was that it was far away, in a place unmarked by the deaths of friends and family. The danger was something Molly Weasley had lamented multiple times, yet Ginny was not deterred. She had seen things she thought impossible to overcome, and she was still alive and breathing. If dragons were to be the death of her then so be it, time seemed more like loaned currency nowadays anyway. 

She thought back to the night when she had made up her mind. It was a cold april night following a cold april day. The rain had started to fall in concurrence with the sun setting. Ginny stood outside, leaning out under the metal roof of a balcony, the occasional rain drop hitting her arms. A noisy smattering from the rain hitting the roof drowned out the noise coming from inside. A soft breeze swept in over the landscape and Ginny felt the chill brush past her. It was strangely comforting, keeping her mind focused on the noises and sensations around her. It kept her mind away from more sinister places.

A wave of noise came from the Burrow as a door was opened behind Ginny, before being cut off yet again with its closing.

"You really know how to get mom worked up." Percy said, handing her a blanket which she gratefully took and wrapped around her shoulders.

Ginny hummed in reply. And for the next few minutes they simply stood in silence, listening to the rain falling on the metal above. Percy stood with arms crossed, Ginny leaning out over the railing of the balcony, both gazing out into the night, not looking at anything in particular.

It was Ginny who broke the silence.

"Do you think I'm making a mistake?" She said, eyes not leaving the treeline in the distance. Her fingers every now and again tapping on the railing. 

Percy took a moment to consider before replying. "No. I wouldn't consider it a mistake. Perhaps a bit reckless and impulsive. Not a mistake though. Even if you will consider it as such later you'll have at least learned something." He looked up at his sister, seeing her faraway look and slumped posture. "I think.. I think it could be good for you, getting away for a bit. Spending time and getting some distance from it all." He turned fully towards Ginny. "How long did you plan to be away?

"Until the start of the term." She briefly looked at Percy before returning to watching the swaying of the trees. The rain had started to fall heavier now, almost completely drowning out their voices.

"Alright. Just don't be a stranger, at least write to mum once in a while." The sound of the rain lay settled over them once more, filling the silence with its increasing spattering. 

"You make it sound as if I'm going to disappear entirely, not for just a few months." Ginny said, having to fight down a yawn. She suddenly felt very tired. Pulling the blanket tighter around her she turned towards Percy.

"I'm not going to leave you, I'm not going to just go off and.." And die. The words hung heavy in the silence between them, Percy took off and wiped his glasses. Ginny turned back to the side, resting her head on her arms as they lay on the wood of the railing. Her eyes had started to droop, the rain softly relaxing her and her consciousness started to steadily fade. 

"I'll owl Charlie as well, it might put mum at ease knowing more about the arrangements." Percy said, turning around and starting to head back inside. He stopped in the doorway, turning back once more.

“You can only run so far before your legs will start to give out, don’t go so far that we won't be able to reach you when you fall.” With that he took a last look at his sister, and went back inside.

Ginny nodded absentmindedly, too tired to really take in what was said. She felt herself drifting off into a slumber. Soothed by the fall of the rain she felt her eyes close and she let out a sigh. Her position was not ideal for sleeping, certainly not since she was standing up. But she was just so tired, so tired of having to be awake, of having to talk about the past, of having to be okay. Sleep overtook her and for a few minutes everything was calm, quiet and serene.

A loud 'CRACK' sounded and Ginny bolted upright. Breathing heavily and feeling a cold sweat run down her back. She was in her bedroom, sat in her bed and grasping her bedsheets so firmly her fingers ached. The room was suddenly bathed in light, shortly followed by another 'CRACK'. A bolt of lightning visible through the window. Ginny relaxed her fingers and feel back with a thud onto the bed. The rest of her sleep was fitful, her body tossing and turning all throughout the night. 

Standing out in the middle of an open field doubt started to creep in to Ginny's mind. As she stood waiting to get picked up by one of Charlie’s.. Friends, colleagues, associates? She didn’t quite know the specifics, truth be told she started to feel as if she wasn’t nearly as well equipped for this as she had let on. What if she got there and they immediately sent her back because she was just a teenager, a teenager who hadn’t done any research on what she was getting into. Before her thoughts spiraled further a sound of heavy wing flaps broke the stillness of the open field. A few meters ahead of her a large green dragon beat its’ wings, making the grass bend over backwards in the strong breeze. It landed with more grace than thought possible for such a large creature. Huffing slightly the dragon looked around for a moment, before promptly starting to eat the grass. Atop it’s back sat a figure clad in what looked to be very durable leathers, with goggles on their head along with.. a pink bicycle helmet? The rider took of the goggles and cracked their neck back and forth before spotting Ginny.

“Sup? You Charlie’s sister?” The rider said, Ginny had to forcibly drag her attention away from the very. Big. Dragon. When she looked at the person they were quite short, shorter than Ginny and only further illustrating the massive stature of the dragon. 

“Yeah, yeah that would be me.” Ginny felt herself starting to fiddle with the strap to her bag, not know what to do with herself in such a situation.

“Alrighty then, if you’ll just hop on up I’ll get us out of here and up and running in no time.” The person patted the dragon between its wings, causing it to look up momentarily before resuming its eating. “The name’s Lilith and this here is Lawn mower, pleasure meeting you.” Lilith did a two finger wave and hopped off of Lawn mower. Grabbing Ginny's bag and hoisting it up on the side of the dragon, fastening it to a hook in the saddle. She then turned to Ginny and offered her her hand.

“First time riding on one of these?” Lilith said, turning to better assist in getting Ginny up. Ginny nodded, her inner monologue trying to convince her that surely this couldn’t be too different from flying on a broom.

“Well then, my advice to you is to hold on tight and lean forwards. I doubt Charlie will appreciate you falling off on the way.” Seeing the expression on Ginny’s face Lilith started to back pedal. “Though not to say this isn’t a safe way to travel, even if you do fall we’ll catch you. So don’t go worrying too hard.” She pushed one final time and Ginny found herself on top of Lawn mower, adjusting herself to the two person saddle and looking for anything she could grab hold of. 

“You not one much for talking?” Lilith said, climbing up into her seat in front of Ginny.

Ginny cleared her throat. “No I do, just not quite used to.. this.” She gestured down towards the dragon. She could her more than see the smile in Liliths voice.

“Well, you’re gonna get plenty of time to get used to it.” And with that the urged on Lawn mower and they took of from the ground. 

After the lift off Ginny felt as if the flying wasn’t too bad, after a while the rhythm of the movements started to become almost calming. Maybe this wouldn’t be that hard after all. That was her last thought before Lawn mower spotted something and went into a straight nose dive. Ginny closed her eyes and hoped that her mother wouldn’t have to read in the news about her dying due to gravity. 

Holding on so tightly her knuckles turned white Ginny squeezed her eyes shut to keep them from tearing up due to the strong wind rushing past them. Only after she felt them even out and heard a ‘Whoop!’ from Lilith did she open them again. She saw that they were now flying quite low, over a large lake, the surface glittering in the morning sun. Ginny felt herself smile and as the rush of adrenaline and fear for her life settled, she found it quite nice. The rest of the ride did not pass smoothly but eventually it did pass. They arrived after night had already fallen, shapes of the terrain hard to make out in the darkness. Ginny felt her legs wobble under her as her feet hit solid ground and her thighs ached from pressing tightly into the dragon. But she had made it and now she was here. Very far away from home and in a completely foreign landscape with a multitude of very dangerous creatures. She collapsed into the tent that had been arranged for her and immediately fell asleep, too tired to spend energy on worrisome thoughts.


	2. Learning to fly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny gets a taste of just what she might have gotten herself into

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started rereading the books again, which prompted me to continue this story. So here I am, back again for hopefully not the last time. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Sun broke through the flap of the tent, hot air being carried in along with the light. Ginny awoke to clothes sticking to her skin with sweat, simply moving caused her to be assaulted by the heat. She hadn't noticed upon arrival, but exiting the tent she saw for the first time where they were located. The tents sat up on a rocky hill surrounded by seemingly endless sand. More rocks dotted the desert terrain every now and again, protruding from the sand like gigantic stalagmites. 

Further in the distance large cliffs could just barely be made out against the horizon.Ginny had to shield her eyes and squint to make them out. Focusing on the landscape she almost mistook the shadow blocking the sun for a cloud. Then when it moved with incredible speed there was no mistaking anymore. Ginny looked on as the largest dragon she had ever seen flew in the distance. Its silver scales glimmered in the light of the early sun, nearly blinding with their brightness. It did a spin in the air, turning and rising rapidly upwards. Reaching a height greater than anything adorning the landscape the dragon spread its wings, and dove. Ginny felt herself holding her breath. Falling as quickly as it had ascended it looked as if there was a certain crash to happen. Knocking up a cloud of sand the dragon righted itself and flew low, it did so for a few meters before spinning yet again. Touching down the dragon started rolling around in the sand. Ginny watched on as it eventually got up, starting to trot away over the dunes. She kept her eyes on it until it disappeared behind a rock, she waited for what felt like several eternities but it did not reemerage. 

Footsteps sounded behind her and turning she saw Charlie coming towards her, with a nod he chucked a bottle that Ginny caught with practiced ease. Looking at what she had caught she saw that it was a bottle of sunscreen. Coming closer she saw that Charlie was carrying quite an array of things, among them a large bag and a sunhat that he plonked down on Ginny’s head as he came to a stop next to her. He’d tanned quite a bit since she’d last seen him, she held her arm to his and her arm looked like a ghost in comparison. Charlie laughed at the expression she pulled. Ginny smiled, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed having him around.

“So, how are you feeling about this so far? You starting to regret it yet?” Charlie said as he began to rummage around in his bag for something.

“Not yet.” Ginny said, watching him dig around the contents of the bag. She saw at least four notebooks and a dozen or so pens. One of which fell out and rolled a bit away, she went to pick it up. Twirling it in her hands while Charlie continued his digging. “You know I think the sand might not be so bad after all. It’s not too bad here.” Ginny said, starting to click the pen as she spoke.

Charlie looked up from his bad to give her a disbelieving look. “Oh yeah? I seem to remember a very different attitude towards sand when we were in Egypt. You almost complained more than Ron about how bad and invasive it was.” 

“I was not worse than Ron, don’t exaggerate.” Charlie shot her another look. She chose to ignore it. “Besides, that was ages ago.” Ginny crossed her arms shifted her footing slightly.

“It was barely 4 years ago.” Charlie fished out a pair of binoculars from his bag and started screwing one of the lenses off. “See, ages.” Ginny said, leaning forward to get a better look. Charlie turned the binoculars upside down and sand started pouring out. 

“Sand really does get into everything, huh.” Ginny said mostly to herself, before catching Charlies smug look and hitting him in the arm. 

“You know mum writes to me sometimes, I think I’ll tell her you’re more violent than the dragons.” Charlie said rubbing his arm and feigning immense hurt. Ginny stuck out her tongue at him. 

*

Despite the early hour the sun was already high in the sky and the dry air hung heavy all around. Ginny wiped her forehead for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour. They had been trudging through sand dunes for almost three hours and it was getting harder and harder to will her legs to continue on. The rest of Charlie’s crew had joined them for breakfast earlier and they had all discussed the plans for the day. 

There were four people, including Charlie, out here studying the dragons. Lilith, a shorter woman with dark black hair and light brown eyes, she seemed to be in charge of handling the groups equipment. There were also a very tall man, with dark skin and glasses too big for his face, named Ain who shook Ginny’s hand so furiously upon meeting her she thought he’d dislocate her shoulder. She’d found that he was quite a pleasant fellow, although a smidge too excitable. The last person Ginny almost didn't notice at first. They had sat quietly by themselves writing in a notebook the entirety of breakfast, only joining the group afterwards. Ginny learnt that their name was Eva and that they kept a summarized record of all of the groups findings. Eva had a large beige sun hat and a holster over their torso for securing a good number of notebooks and pens.

The plan, had been to make a trek out into the plains and check in on a hidden camera left there the previous week. The problem, was that apparently the camera was a little too well hidden. They’d been making stops, dug around in the sand for a bit, decided that ‘no perhaps it was a bit further away’ and started all over again. Ginny had been carrying the shovels and her arms had started to ache, not wanting to make a fuss on her first day she begrudgingly carried on. She had to stop every few steps to shift her grip on the shovels so she could swat at the mosquitos that buzzed all around. They had leant her a pair of thick gloves, which helped secure her grip but did little to help with the sweat. 

After another forty minutes or so Ain stopped so abruptly Ginny nearly crashed into him. She stumbled and the shovels tumbled out of her grasp, landing with a thump in the sand. Ain held out his hand calling for the group to halt, then he slowly lowered his hand and pointed away to the left. Ginny squinted in the direction and after a few seconds she spotted what Ain had seen, a glimmer of something metallic partly concealed by a large rock. Quickly gathering up the shovels they made their way towards it. But before they had even gotten close something very fast whooshed past them. A sleek and slender matte black dragon, roughly the size of a small horse had flown past and landed on the rock. It skittered down, weaving it’s long body back and forth much like a snake, its sharp claws scratching the rocky surface as it went. Ginny just managed to catch a glimpse of something shiny stuck to one of said claws before the dragon reached the ground and slunk around the rock. Lilith sighed and put her hands on her hips.

“Looks like Maggie got ahold of it” She said, with a small accompanied huff from Eva.  
“Maggie?” Asked Ginny, eyes still locked on the place where the dragon had disappeared.

“That one there flying about collecting shiny stuff, that’s Maggie. We haven’t really confirmed that she likes the name but it’s what we’re calling her.” Lilith replied, she’d started digging around in her bag as she spoke. 

“She’s a type of dragon most commonly known as Desert lurkers, identified by their matte scales and affinity for thievery” Charlie supplied, “It looks like getting that camera back may prove more difficult than anticipated, she doesn’t particularly like anyone getting too close to her hoard.”

Lilith pulled out a small round object from her bag and did a small wave with it. “Aha! See now that won’t be a problem if we get her to come to us” She twisted the object and opened it to reveal it to be a pocket mirror, the glass glinting in the sunlight. 

“Still,” Charlie crossed his arms, “that doesn’t get us the camera. Plus if she gets aggressive that could turn out very bad for all of us”

The group quickly started to throw around ideas for retrieving the camera. Ginny tried to listen as best as she could but found herself distracted by movement over by the rock. She glanced over Charlie’s shoulder. The dragon was looking right at their little group, the pocket mirror still being waved around had seemingly caught its attention. A little frantic Ginny snatched the pocket mirror and stuffed it into her pocket. Before even getting a chance to explain she saw the dragon’s head snap sharply skywards and with a backwards lurch it sprung up into the air. It darted through the sky towards whatever it was that it had spotted, disappearing up into the clouds. Ginny held her breath. The rest of the group had quieted down as well, all looking at where the dragon had vanished. 

Three minutes of tense staring later, the dragon had yet to reappear. They looked at each other, then to the rock, then up at the clouds and then back at each other. Then they all simultaneously broke out into a sprint. Running through sand was not a simple feat but they ran as fast as their legs could carry them towards the rock. Any plan of stealth abandoned. Panting they came up by the rock, Ain and Eva using the rockface for support as they attempted to catch their breaths. Ginny peered down into a small pit behind the rock, in which a large pile of shimmering objects lay. She had to look away from the nearly blinding light reflecting from the pit. She blinked hard twice before attempting another look.

Charlie had started to scoot down into the pit, carefully maneuvering as to not lose his footing. He jumped down, stretched his arm and snatched up the camera. Ain stood at the top and leaned down to held hoist Charlie up again. Allowing themselves a few seconds to breath the group looked at each other. The sun was so bright on the shimmering hoard that any who had looked at it had spots swimming before their eyes. A strong gust of wind hit them, showering them in sand.

Above them a large pair of wings almost brushed the large rock. A pale yellow dragon had passed right over them. It continued in its flight, beating its heavy wings and kicking up sand as it went. 

“Right,” Ginny said, her voice coming out short and out of breath. “So should we get a move on or..?” 

Before anyone had the chance to reply a loud rumbling filled the air all around. The ground starting to tremble underfoot. Pebbles starting to roll from a spot, maybe fifteen meters away, down a building hill. Sand was rising up from the plains, creating a mound that grew steadily larger. Sand was now streaming down it in rushing currents. Out from inside the hill two ruby red eyes gazed out. The red almost seeming to glow.

“Okay, that’s our cue!” Charlie said, starting to shove at the group to get them to move. 

Coming to from their daze everyone started to back away. Then when they felt they were at a good distance, they booked it. Not stopping until they were all out of breath and barely able to stand upright. 

“Is this how every day is for you!?” Ginny panted, her voice wheezing with the effort. 

She looked around the group who lay sprawled out on the ground. They all looked exhausted but she also saw that they all were smiling. After her heart had calmed down slightly she felt herself smiling too. It might have been utterly terrifying but it was also exhilarating. Ginny felt more alive than she had in weeks, finding that she hadn’t even had time to think about the things normally troubling her. She laughed, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad afterall. Maybe she could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> The simplest way to do this I felt was splitting it up into chapters. How many chapters? I do not know, we'll see how many it comes to. At the moment it's looking to be perhaps 5? This may turn out to be wildly inaccurate but we'll find out. 
> 
> Hope you liked this chapter, do let me know any thoughts and/or feedback!


End file.
